It is a tragic day in Malaysia when grown men like Hishamuddin have succumbed to a bewildering fear of the light.(En/bm/cn)

8 Jul 2011- The Greek philosopher Plato said that “we can forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light”.

It would appear that in Malaysia, there are men holding offices of high power who are inexplicably petrified by the prospect of a group of Malaysians who intend to exercise their basic human rights to gather peacefully to highlight the need to address what they see as electoral flaws. I wish to reiterate DAP’s position of supporting peaceful demonstrations and condemning violent demonstrations.

The act of placing a restriction order on 91 individuals, by barring them from assembling and disallowing them entry into certain spots in Kuala Lumpur this Saturday, is ridiculous and exposes an irrational fear on the part of Home Minister Hishamuddin Tun Hussein Onn and the police.
We agree that conflict and violent demonstrations should be avoided, but from the beginning the Bersih 2.0 rally has always been intended to be a peaceful gathering. There is absolutely no element of violence, despite the painstaking efforts by the Police and the Government to portray it that way.

In fact, the Bersih 2.0 rally was given royal ratification when the Yang di-Pertuan Agong himself deemed fit to grant an audience to Bersih Chairperson Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan, and to give royal consent to a stadium gathering in any stadium that the Bersih organisers choose.

The Prime Minister himself had advised Bersih to use a stadium, but today we find that his Cabinet Colleagues, in particular the Home Minister, does not understand this simple language. Not only are they not allowing Bersih to use any stadium in the Klang Valley, they have now issued a restriction order on 91 individuals including all Bersih leaders. This is notwithstanding the arbitrary arrests of 193 people over the last few weeks including the 6 from PSM being charged under the Internal Security Act (ISA) 1960!

What is happening to our country when even our leaders are treated as strangers in our own land?

The list of restricted individuals includes not just Bersih leaders Datuk S Ambiga and Parliamentary Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, Mentri Besar of Kelantan Nik Aziz, DAP leader Lim Kit Siang and Selangor State EXCO member Teresa Kok, PAS President Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang and PAS Deputy President Mat Sabu and other PR leaders. How can so many elected leaders of our country be treated as if they are insidious elements?

Let us not forget that the former Bar Council President Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan was given the Secretary of State’s Award for International Women of Courage by Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama. The leaders of the world treat her as a courageous woman, yet in Malaysia she is vilified so severely as a public enemy that UMNO leaders ask for her citizenship to be revoked.

Indeed Plato is correct to say that truly it is a tragic day in Malaysia when grown men like Home Minister Hishamuddin have succumbed to a bewildering fear of the light. Or are the police and Hishamuddin still a child who is afraid of the dark and not yet grown men?